Fiercely opposed to cryptoassets in their early days, the financial industry is changing. Recognizing investors’ interest in these products, several players are working on offers while Brussels has built a European regulation governing cryptoasset markets (MiCA), which came into force at the end of 2024. The BPCE group has just taken a step forward by launching an investment offer for customers of Banques Populaires and Caisses d’Epargne, via its subsidiary Hexarq, approved as a “digital asset service provider” (PSAN) for almost a year.
The offer has been rolled out since December 8 in four regional establishments (Banque Populaire Rives de Paris and Auvergne Rhône Alpes, Caisses d’Épargne Aquitaine Poitou-Charentes and Côte d’Azur), before being generalized to the entire group. In practice, customers can open a Hexarq account entirely online from their banking area and access several cryptoassets: bitcoin, ether, solana and USDC. Other digital assets may be added later. The subscription is billed at 2.99 euros per month, with a transaction fee of 1.5% and retention fees above 50,000 euros.
The AMF becomes less strict
Another major advance: the Financial Markets Authority (AMF), the watchdog of the Stock Exchange, has just announced a relaxation of the texts which govern the marketing of investments backed by digital assets. “The AMF has noted that certain cryptoassets, as long as they respect predefined conditions, no longer present an unusual character for non-professional clients,” explains the institution. This time, the activities of purchasing and selling digital tokens on brokerage platforms are not concerned, but only the subscription of regulated financial investments – debt securities – backed by cryptos and which reflect their price.
Interest in cryptoassets is growing strongly, particularly among young people.
© / Traxer/Unsplash – Manon Guibon/L’Express
Until now, these were accompanied by a very dissuasive statement: “the AMF considers that this product is too complex to be marketed to non-professional investors and has therefore not examined the commercial documents”. This warning will disappear, provided that the investments meet certain criteria. They must be indexed to quality cryptos, that is to say with a capitalization of at least 10 billion euros and high daily trading volumes. These products must not resort to debt, the cryptoassets must be held directly by the issuing entity, and their custody must be entrusted to a MiCA approved service provider. Enough to reassure certain actors who are still cautious.
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